Leveling rollers for leveling and making paint or enamel coatings uniform



Dec. 29, 1959 UHLEEN 2,918,896

A. E. LEVELING ROLLERS FOR LEVELING AND MAKING PAINT OR ENAMEL COATINGSUNIFORM Filed June 17, 1955 37 4 I I I 36 j 38 3 1 23 I 2 52 5a. 5 5/24a INVENTOR. fer/I02 f. Uhz EE/V.

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United States Patent LEVELING ROLLERS FOR LEVELING AND MAK- ING PAINT ORENAMEL COATINGS UNIFORM Arthur E. Uhleen, Allentown, Pa., assignor, bymesne assignments, to National Steel Corporation, a corporation ofDelaware Application June 17, 1955, Serial No. 516,227

1 Claim. (Cl. 118118) This invention relates to improvements inapparatus for applying and leveling coatings of paints or enamels afterthey have been applied to the surfaces of strips of materials while saidstrips are in motion.

Another object of the invention is the provision of leveling rollerswhich have surfaces formed with lateral leads for removing from thesurfaces of strips of materials deposits of paint or enamel and forthereby leaving on the surfaces of said strip coatings of apredetermined thinness.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision in apparatus of thecharacter described of threaded rollers which naturally have a right orleft hand lateral lead and adapted to remove portions of paint or enamelcoatings from the surface of an elongated strip and thereby to leave onthe surface of said strip a coating of a predetermined thickness andconsistency.

Another object of the invention is the provision of leveling rollerswhich have surfaces formed with lateral leads for removing from thesurfaces of strips of materials deposits of paint or enamel and forthereby leaving on the surfaces of said strip coatings of apredetermined thinness, and including means to rotate said rollers sothat the surfaces thereof in contact with the coating on said strip aremoving in a direction counter to the direction of movement of saidstrip.

Another object of the invention is the provision of leveling rollerswhich have surfaces formed with lateral leads for removing from thesurfaces of strips of materials deposits of paint or enamel and forthereby leaving on the surfaces of said strip coatings of apredetermined thinness, means to rotate said rollers so that thesurfaces thereof in contact with the coating on said strip are moving ina direction counter to the direction of movement of said strip, andincluding individual trough means beneath said rollers to catch theexcess paint or enamel removed from the surfaces of said strips by saidrollers.

Yet a further object of the invention is the provision in apparatus ofthe character described of rollers having their outer surfaces threadedso as to give a lateral motion to the paint or enamel as the latter isbeing removed from the surfaces of the strips immediately after theyhave been coated.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision in apparatus of thecharacter described of rollers having their outer surfaces knurled witha lateral lead so that as the rolls remove excess paint or enamel fromthe coated surfaces of said strips the removal is effected in a lateralsense.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art upon a study of this specification and theaccompanying drawings.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate diagrammatically apparatussuitable for practicing the invention:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a strip being transportedon a vertical path and several operations being performed on the sameduring its transit;

Patented Dec. 29, 1959 Figure 2 is a fragmentary view, partly incross-section, of an applicator showing more details than those shown inFigure 1;

Figure 3 is an elevational view showing a portion of my finely threadedroller for finally metering the thickness of the coating to produce apredetermined thinness;

Figure 4 is an elevational view similar to that of Figure 3, except thatthe threads thereon are coarser, for leveling the coating;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a portion of a modified roller havingits outer periphery knurled or otherwise configurated into a patternother than threaded and adapted to level off and thin coatings to alevel coating of a predetermined thickness; and

Figure 6 is a diagrammatic representation of the strip and apparatus ofFigure l with means being shown for conveying the strip along a verticalpath at speeds above 200 feet per minute.

The apparatus shown herein for practicing the invention includes one ofmy improved applicators such as is shown, described, and claimed in myapplication Serial Number 326,256, filed December 16, 1952, now US.Patent No. 2,784,697.

The applicator per se, Figures 1, 2 and 6, comprises a hollowcylindrical member 10 having a head 11 on one end thereof, and having anelongated stub shaft 12 extending axially and outwardly therefrom into abearing block 13 which is in turn secured on a support 14. The support14 is a portion of a frame generally designated by the numeral 15.

The other end of the applicator may be provided with a like head andstud shaft extending into a like bearing block, thus with aligned studshafts extending into such bearing blocks, the applicator is freelyrotatable, but for one restraining feature in which an arm 16 has acurvilinear portion which embraces the shaft 12 and terminates in a tabportion 18, and aligned holes in the arm and in said tab portionaccommodate a clamping screw 19 which effects and maintains a positivefixed relation between said arm and said applicator.

The frame 15 carries a vertical shaft 20 which has threads 21 thereon.The shaft 20 extends through a suitable hole in the arm 16, and a lowernut 22 and an upper nut 23 are used to slightly rotate the applicator 10and thereby adjust the relation of a longitudinal slot 25 in theapplicator relative to the strip material to be coated and thereby thethickness of the coating applied upon the surface of the elongated stripis controlled. This slot or slit 25 is formed in the body of thecylindrical member 10 and extends longitudinally from end to endthereof. The body 10 (Figure 2) also has flattened surfaces adjacent tothe edges which define the slot 25. One of these flattened surfacescarries a flat plate member or blade 26, the longitudinal edge 27 ofwhich is adjustable relative to the edge of the slot for regulating theeffective width of said slot and consequently the quantity of coatingmaterial delivered to an elongated strip 24. The blade 26 is held to thebody 10 by means of screws 28 extending through elongated holes in theblade and engaging threaded holes in the body 10. Backing up the outeredge of the blade are screws 28a which are provided for retaining anydesired adjustment.

This elongated strip 24 is carried on transporting rollers (not shown)and is moved upwardly along a verticalpath at a predetermined rate, andit is understood that this strip has previously been processed andcleaned to make it chemically clean and it retains sufficient heat tomaintain it at a temperature which is sufficiently be low the flashpoint of the paint or other coating material tained at elevatedtemperatures approaching the temperature of the strip 24.

The applicator 10, which may be best seen in Figures 1 and 2 has afitting 20' which threadedly engages a hole in the end of theapplicator, and a conduit 39 is con nected to the fitting 20 by means ofan element 29 of the fitting. The conduit 30 is connected to a source ofpaint or other coating fluid, it being understood that the solventcontent thereof is substantially less than the amount of solventordinarily employed.

The coating fluid is delivered via the conduit 3i and the fitting 24) tothe hollow interior 31 of the applicator under pressure, and in manyinstances the applicator and the conduit may be insulated in anysuitable manner to minimize the leakage of heat from the coating fluid.

Now when applying coating fluids at the rates referred to herein, theadjustments above referred to do not prevent an excess of said coatingfluids from being applied to the surfaces of said strip and for thisreason 1 provide a leveling roll spaced apart from the applicator. Thisleveling roll may comprise a roll 3 having fairly coarse threads 29formed on the outer periphery thereof. This roll has a shaft extension31 on one end, and a similar shaft extension 32 on the other endthereof.

A vertical frame member 33, is connected to the base portion 15 and itextends upwardly. A horizontal arm 34 extends laterally fro-m thevertical frame member 33 and supports a bearing 35 into which the shaft31 is journaled. The shaft 32 is journaled in a similar bearingsupported on a similar horizontal arm (not shown).

The periphery of the roller 30 may contact the face 24a of the strip 24.In order to make the leveling roll most effective it should be rotatedin either direction. I prefer to rotate the roller 30 in a directioncounter to the movement of the strip 24, as indicated on the end thereofin Figure 1 by a clockwise arrow and described below.

The vertical frame member 33 also has a second horizontal arm 36, whichis parallel to and spaced apar from the arm 34. A second roller 37 whichhas, for example, finer threads 40 than those on the roller 34 isprovided with shaft extensions on each end thereof journaled in suitablebearings. One of these may be seen at 38 and it is journaled in abearing 39 supported on the arm 36. The shaft 31 carries a pulley 41,while the shaft 38 carries a pulley 42 aligned with the pulley 41. Aspeed reducer 44 is mounted on a frame comprised of the arm 34, and ithas an output shaft 45 upon which a pulley 46 is carried in alignmentwith the pulleys 41 and 42 and these three pulleys are spanned by a belt47 which drives the rollers 30 and 37 in unison.

The speed reducer has an input shaft 48 carrying a pulley 49 which isspanned by a belt 50 which also embraces a small pulley 51 carried on ashaft 52 of an electric motor 53 supported on the frame. Thus the motordrives both the roller 30 and the roller 37 in a clockwise direction andat uniform speeds. 1 term the roller 37 my metering roll, since itcontacts the strip after the roller 30 has performed a levelingoperation.

Beneath the roller 39 is a drain trough 54 supported on frame member 34by means of a bracket 55. The end of the trough carries a fitting 56 towhich one end of a conduit 57 is connected. This conduit is connected toa system (not shown) for returning the excess coating to the source towhich the conduit 30 is connected, so that the surplus coating materialcan be re-circulated.

Beneath the roller 37 is a drain trough 58 which is supported on theframe arm 36 by means of a bracket 60. The end 59 of the trough carriesa fitting to which one end of a conduit 61 is connected, and thisconduit is also connected to the system for returning the excess coatingto the source to which the conduit 341 15 connected, so that saidsurplus coating material can be recirculated.

In Figure 3, I show a portion of my metering roll 37 in elevation, andthis roll has formed on its periphery comparatively fine threads 41?.

The leveling roll 31? is shown in Figure 4, and it carries comparativelycoarse threads 29.

A modified type of roll 42 is shown in Figure 5, and it has shaftextensions on each end thereof, one of them being shown at 43. The outersurface of the roll 4?. is configurated or embossed with a desireddesign for obtaining certain desired effects. For example, I may formthe surface 41 by knurling it, with the lead of the knurl tending to theright end or to the left end.

By the same token, the threads 29 and 41 on the rolls 3%? and 37 may beright hand or left hand according to the results desired.

Referring now to Figure 6 of the drawings, after passing upwardly pastapplicator 10, roller 3&1 and roller 37, the strip 24 then passes overdriven roll 62 and is coiled on driven coiling means 63. The roll 62 andcoiling means 63 may be driven by conventional means not shown in theinterest of simplifying the drawings at speeds providing a desired stripspeed, i.e., at speeds providing a strip speed above 200 feet perminute.

Although I have herein shown and described, by way of example, rollersfor leveling and metering the coating on the strips after it has beenapplied thereto, it is understood that other rollers than thosespecifically shown and described may be employed.

1 claim:

In an apparatus of the character described, means to convey an elongatedstrip along a vertical path at speeds above 200 feet per minute, anelongated hollow applicator having an elongated slot formed therein withan outer edge of the slot being adapted to barely clear a surface of thestrip, an adjustable blade mounted on the applicator and forming anouter edge of the slot which is in working alignment with the opposingouter edge of the slot, means for adjustably mounting said blade, asupply of coating material under pressure connected to the applicatorfor application from said slot upon at least a portion of said surfaceof the strip as it is moved along said path, a peripherally threadedroller having its periphery in wiping contact with a coating on saidsurface of the strip, a second peripherally threaded roller spaced apartvertically from the first roller and having its periphery in wipingcontact with the coating on said surface of the strip, both rollersbeing mounted above the applicator and being operative to collectivelyremove portions of and to level the coating on said surface of thestrip, means to drive said first and second rollers in directions tocause the portions in contact with the coating material on said surfaceof the strip to move opposite to the direction of movement of saidstrip, and individual receptacles below said rollers to collect the material removed from said strip, each receptacle having outlets via whichthe collected material is removed therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,421,662 Bossert July 4, 1922 1,468,333 Thom Sept. 18, 1923 1,956,562Co-ates May 1, 1934 2,251,264 Berch et al. Aug. 5, 1941 2,285,041 Mayeret a1. June 2, 1942 2,330,282 Hazeltine et al. Sept. 28, 1943 2,415,644Leonard et al. Feb. 11, 1947 2,429,862 Woofter et al. M Oct. 28, 19472,464,771 Van Guelpen Mar. 15, 1949

